SHE was famous for rarely smiling and appearing to take life just a little too seriously.
But it turns out we were wrong about Victoria Beckham all along — and now she is finally being appreciated for her mischievous sense of humour.
Fans are loving her waspish social media posts which reveal a character quite at odds with the miserable-looking public persona she cultivated after joining the Spice Girls three decades ago.
In 2007, when the band — the world’s biggest-selling girl group ever — reunited for a global concert tour, her bandmate Mel B quipped that Posh Spice “might even smile”.
Now the woman once dubbed Pouty Spice and Moody Spice is showing she is willing to poke fun at herself and her husband David — as well as revealing her saucy side.
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The 49-year-old has been posting videos on Instagram containing double entendres about “tossing”, “a handsome cock” and being “horny”.
Mum-of-four Victoria also entertains female followers with photographs of 48-year-old footballer- turned-model David in his underwear, followed by the phrase: “You’re welcome!”
Plenty to smile about
It was her down-to-earth appearance in last year’s four-part Netflix documentary Beckham that really opened the world’s eyes to Playful Spice.
In it she danced with the former England captain and laughed off his teasing about her not being as working-class as she claimed.
The documentary was made by Oscar-winning director Fisher Stevens, who revealed he only accepted the job because of how amused he was by the former singer.
He said: “Victoria was hilarious, really funny. I said, ‘OK, this is going to be good and it’s going to be funny’, because Victoria was so funny when I met her.”
And she does have plenty to smile about these days.
The fashion designer’s company, Victoria Beckham Holdings, finally made a profit after 15 years, with sales rising by 44 per cent to £58.8million in 2022, leaving the firm £200,000 in the black.
The Beckham empire as a whole turned in sales of £130million in a year, largely from brand partnerships and licensing deals, with the Netflix documentary and David’s ambassador role at football’s World Cup also helping to fill the coffers.
Victoria also appears to have made up with her son Brooklyn’s wife Nicola Peltz, posing next to the American heiress in a Christmas Day family snap.
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Nicola replied to the Instagram post: “I love you!!”
On top of that, Victoria and David have clearly overcome any reported rocky moments in their relationship, including his alleged affair with former personal assistant Rebecca Loos 20 years ago.
In the documentary and on social media the Beckhams, who married in 1999, appear to be closer than ever.
And they are relaxed enough to rib each other at every opportunity.
At the weekend Victoria posted an image on her Instagram account, which has 32.6million followers, of the cockerel she bought David for Christmas.
She added the caption: “Wow what a handsome Cock!!!”
This followed a video in which Not-so-posh Spice followed her husband around their hen house, saying: “Chickens, and there is actually a massive cock in there as well,” before pausing for comic effect, then adding: “What to get David Beckham for Christmas.”
And Victoria is something of a repeat offender when it comes to innuendos.
At the end of October, next to an image of David wearing Devil’s horns she wrote: “HORNY on Halloween.”
On Shrove Tuesday she made a video of the former Manchester United attacker expertly flipping a pancake in their kitchen, while saying: “It’s Pancake Day and David is tossing away — that’s impressive.”
She then giggled before adding: “He is so good at tossing,” and when he offered her some honey she joked: “I love some of your sticky stuff.”
There have been many other posts in which Victoria gently teases her husband.
She captioned a clip of him exercising on all fours, filmed from behind: “Morning work out with this Love Machine.”
In a set-up sequence during an interview at the apartment of American fashion designer Jenna Lyons the Wag showed just how waggish she can be.
In a bathroom cabinet Victoria finds a photo of David in just his tight Calvin Klein undies.
“That’s my husband,” she exclaims, then caresses the image intimately.
She also shared a photo of David in his underwear beneath the TV and added the caption: “Electrician came to fix the TV . . . You’re welcome!”
The pay-off line has become a regular joke.
Next to a photo of David in his Calvins in an outdoor water tub she wrote: “Let’s all celebrate @davidbeckham!! You’re welcome!”
Posh has in the past given the impression that she is reluctant to let her hair down.
But in July on TikTok she let the world see her and David performing karaoke to the Spice Girls song Say You’ll Be There.
David looks very much the worse for wear, but Victoria claimed: “No really, I did not drink that much.”
In another clip on Instagram she mocks herself, asking with irony: “Who’d be scared of me?”
Fans warmed to her openness in the Netflix documentary, particularly when she was shown a newspaper cutting from 2005 with the headline “What would Posh say?” over a photo of David posing with Jennifer Lopez and Beyoncé.
It was taken the day after he had been unable to attend the birth of their youngest son Cruz via C-section.
Victoria says: “I’ll tell you what Posh would say, Posh was p***ed off.”
The series ends with them dancing together to Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s duet Islands In The Stream.
It’s an emotional moment, which further endeared the couple to viewers, and afterwards Victoria posted: “Still making me laugh and I’m still teaching @davidbeckham to dance.”
But he has shown he is perfectly able to give as good as he gets, kicking off the New Year with a social media gag at his wife’s expense:
“Just a nice casual New Year’s Eve lunch at The Ritz. @victoriabeckham Very working class ?? My mother & father in law left in their Roll’s.”
In the Netflix documentary Victoria said she grew up “working-class”, before David pointed out her dad drove a Rolls-Royce when she was young.
That gentle everyday joshing was captured by director Fisher Stevens.
At one point Victoria tells her husband: “I’m heading to the fashion factory,” prompting his reply: “Where are you actually going?” before she smiles and responds: “Facial.”
It is Victoria’s working life which is really looking up at the moment.
She has struggled to prove herself in the fashion world since launching her own label in September 2008.
The company was often in debt and had to find new investors to keep going.
But her make-up range has proven to be a hit, with her eyeliner receiving particular praise.
With Victoria’s perfume costing £245 a bottle and one of her tote bags setting customers back £1,450, there is certainly money to be made in her brand.
Meanwhile, another rumoured problem in her life seems to have been smoothed over.
It was said that devoted mother Posh had fallen out with her eldest son Brooklyn’s missus over the wedding dress she wore in 2022.
But in recent photos she is regularly seen getting close to 28-year-old actress Nicola.
And Victoria is clearly very close to her other three children, sons Romeo, 21, and Cruz, 18, and daughter Harper, 12.
They all spent most of the festive season together.
It is hardly surprising, then, that Victoria said at the end of the Netflix documentary: “I feel really content now.”
And that is certainly coming across in her new Witty Spice persona.
